Creating a Sustainable Community Using The Natural Step - A workshop for Planners

This one-day program is designed to introduce planners, planning commissioners and other interested municipal staff, council members and citizens to the concept of how to use The Natural Step Framework as a foundation for creating a sustainable community.

In the morning, a presentation will define sustainability and present the basic principles of The Natural Step Framework including the science behind the framework model and case studies. Attendees will participate in small group exercises around the four principles and learn how to apply the framework in the creation of sustainable services for a community/

In the afternoon, a senior planner from the City of Lake Oswego will share how Lake Oswego is using the Natural Step as the foundation for a revision of the city’s comprehensive plan. Later, participants will learn how to use the four principles of sustainability as a strategic planning tool in developing a long term community plan.

Participants will receive Certification Maintenance Credits from the American Planning Association.

Who Should Participate?

* City planners & engineers
* City planning commission members
* Any other city staff, council members or citizens who express interest

Content

* Sustainability overview and driving factors
* Basic science underlying the TNS framework
* Four principles of the TNS framework and their application
* Case studies of communities using the Natural Step
* Guest speaker: Sidaro Sin, senior planner from the City of Lake Oswego
* Strategic planning exercise
* Close – How to take these concepts back to your communities

Outcomes

* Understanding of how to bring a sustainability perspective to the city planning process
* Understanding of the Natural Step framework and its usage in city planning
* Examples of organizations and communities using the Natural Step framework
* Opportunity to experience how to use the “backcasting” process in a planning exercise
* Ideas on how to take this material back into a city organization
* Certification Maintenance Credits with APA

Workshop Leader

Duke Castle is one of the original organizers of the Oregon Natural Step Network. He has delivered hundreds of Natural Step presentations, including training Oregon state leaders on sustainability as part of Governor Kitzhaber's sustainability executive order, and has traveled to Sweden to study how Swedish companies have successfully applied The Natural Step principles. Duke is a former marketing executive with Hewlett Packard and has a BSEE from Cornell University and an MBA from Stanford.

Please note: Lunch is not provided.

Location